I H8 War in Creative Quarterly
Charles Hively, publisher of 3×3 magazine had good news and a pleasant surprise while we were having lunch. My poster was the back page for the I H8 War campaign in the fall issue of Creative Quarterly Magazine and also selected for the American Graphic Design Awards for Public Service. I really need to have lunch with Charles more often.
Site Redesign
Technology marches on. My site suddenly became obsolete when Google announced new standards insisting websites must be fully responsive on all platforms (especially mobile) or risk dropping down in search rankings. On the bright side it was the perfect time for a facelift and Bambi Nicklen of Omnivorous Media came to the rescue. She’s a wonderful art director with whom I have worked with for many years so when she offered to redesign the site I jumped at the chance. Bambi kept the essence of the previous site while making it friendlier, more user friendly and visually consistent. We’ve changed the name from Planet Yang to James Yang. Please enjoy the new site. Much thanks to Bambi for making Christmas come early this year.
New York Times: Short Answers to Hard Questions about Climate Change part 2
The New York Times called with pleasant news: Reaction to the first gif for the feature, Short Answers to Hard Questions about Climate Change was very positive so they asked for another gif for more reader’s questions about climate change. The focus was on the carbon footprint caused by raising beef and AD Catherine Gilmore-Barnes wanted an idea which showed cattle or beef damaging the environment. The idea of a bull leaving a trail of dead trees turned out to be a favorite for the editors, Catherine, and myself. I’m very grateful to the Times and Catherine for helping me graduate to the level of gif savant.
Here’s the still image.
New York Times: Short Answers to Hard Questions about Climate Change
I have finally entered the 21st century with a first gif for the New York Times. The article, “Short Answers to Hard Questions about Climate Change” was originally commissioned as a still image but they later decided a gif would add a nice punch to the story. This was a case of learning a new skill on the fly. I’ve always found a real deadline helps with retaining skills so I’m look forward to doing more gifs the future. Much thanks to Catherine Gilmore Barnes for letting me bring one of my illustrations to life.
Here’s the original image for the print version of the article.
The things I’ve seen
Sometimes an image created for fun is screaming to be published and I’ll send it to a few of my favorite art directors. We have a relationship where they encourage me to send images and when it works it’s win-win. An AD has another project checked off and one of my favorite images makes it to the page. Fortunately this image found a home with SooJin Buzelli at Plansponsor for an article about searching for answers. It was good to know the art was in good hands.
Have I got a health plan for you
Besides Thanksgiving, November is now the time of year you have to enroll for you health plan. Dan Smith of the Wall St. Jounal called with a very timely story. Businesses are now using apps and online robots to help employees make better choices for their plans. A robot picking the perfect plan was a metaphor which came to mind quickly because I want a robot to pick a plan for me during enrollment season. It’s always fun to work with Dan and the Journal.
Sketches for the story. I mainly focused on the idea of something standing out in a crowd.
A kid who cares
Art Director Emily Fulani of Parents Magazine called with an assignment which was right up my alley. She wanted opening art for a feature about raising kids with a sense of community and empathy. Parents has been a great new client this year and they are using great illustrations. We decided the best approach was an idea of developing a child’s growing sense of community as the best approach.
This project took a few more sketches at the idea stage because we were looking for the right feel. Here’s some of the earlier ideas.
We almost went with this as the final but decided at the last second there was a better approach.
The final spread. It was definitely the right choice at the end.
